Recherche

CAMH to expand school-based violence prevention program over four years

TORONTO, May 3 /CNW/ - CAMH's Centre for Prevention Science has
partnered with the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) through its
Innovation Strategy to expand the reach of its highly successful Fourth
R Program. This $2.5 million grant from PHAC supports regional
adaptation of an effective program with a special focus on Aboriginal
youth.

The Fourth R Program is a school-based violence prevention program that
has been shown to decrease violence, increase safer choices and create
healthier relationships with peers. "We know that one of the most
effective ways to reduce risk to adolescents and youth is by helping
them learn to make healthy decisions and form healthy relationships
with peers, parents and teachers," said Dr. Claire Crooks, psychologist
at CAMH's Centre for Prevention Science and project lead on the Fourth
R expansion. "The success of the program in grade 9 students was
outstanding. We wanted to be able to also reach youth before they enter
high school - this new partnership with PHAC will allow us to implement
and evaluate with younger students."

Initially developed and evaluated for grade 9 students, this project
will allow the grade 8 version of the program to be evaluated with
students from 48 schools in Saskatchewan. "There has never been a
school-based study of violence prevention of this scope in
Saskatchewan," says Dr. Suzanne Zwarych, regional coordinator of the
study. "It will allow us to see what works with Saskatchewan youth in
the diversity of school settings they attend."

In addition to the grade 8 version of the Fourth R program, CAMH's
Centre for Prevention Science will also be working with Aboriginal
community partners to implement the program in schools in Northwest
Territories, Ontario and Saskatchewan. There are numerous expansions to
the program for use with Aboriginal students, most notably a peer
mentoring program.

"Aboriginal communities have a proud history of spirituality and
cultural tradition, but also have difficult issues facing their youth
as a result of generations of colonization and discrimination. When
developing the program, it was important to adapt it in ways that would
work best for this population," added Crooks. "Each community is
unique, so it was critical to work with local partners to incorporate
suitable language and historical context as well as integrate the
appropriate traditions and worldview. We will also be engaging parent
groups and providing teacher training to support the effectiveness of
the program." Evaluating the Aboriginal Fourth R program requires an
innovative and culturally sensitive research methodology and is an
integral part of the initiative.

"The project provides a fantastic opportunity to take a program that has
been shown to work in other parts of Canada and adapt it to fit the
unique character of our northern communities," says Ms. Dianne
Lafferty, Aboriginal Education Coordinator of Yellowknife Catholic
Schools and the regional coordinator for the NWT sites of the project.
"Working with community partners in Yellowknife and Behchoko has helped
us optimize that balance between evidence-based programming and
regional fit."

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is Canada's largest
mental health and addiction teaching hospital, as well as one of the
world's leading research centres in the area of addiction and mental
health. CAMH combines clinical care, research, education, policy
development and health promotion to help transform the lives of people
affected by mental health and addiction issues.

CAMH is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto, and is a Pan
American Health Organization/World Health Organization Collaborating
Centre.

SOURCE Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

For further information:

Media Contact: For more information or to request an interview, contact Michael Torres, Media Relations, CAMH at 416 595 6015 or email media@camh.net